


let's count (the stars) together

by chesire (kierenwalkers)



Series: fate is a fickle thing (i dont care what it has to say about us though) [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: (but otherwise canon compliant), Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-02
Updated: 2015-08-02
Packaged: 2018-04-12 12:54:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4479950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kierenwalkers/pseuds/chesire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Is that it?" he asks, pointing to the small symbol located near Yamaguchi's rib cage. It's black, the same inky black of the night sky and Tsukishima's stars.</p>
            </blockquote>





	let's count (the stars) together

**Author's Note:**

> happy birthday rebecca!! months ago you asked me to write you a tsukiyams soulmate fic and i did as promised!! (just several months late) i hope you like it and i hope your birthday is wonderful bc you're so very important to me!!
> 
> \+ inspiration for tsukishima's tattoos come from [this](http://bokkuroo.tumblr.com/post/109774798331/some-time-ago-i-wrote-this-very-cute-kuroken)  
> \+ the symbol for the asteroid vesta looks like [this](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/Vesta_symbol.svg/1024px-Vesta_symbol.svg.png). vesta is also said to have some influence over scorpio (which is yams).

Tsukishima Kei's body is scattered with stars.

There are tiny little stars everywhere on his body. There's one that's on his ankle, a few underneath his left kneecap. Some are in the crook of his elbow, others are on the back of his neck. There's a rather large cluster located near his sternum (and another one right below his heart, as cliche as that is).

He hasn't counted them all, he doesn't have nearly enough time (and despite how bored he may be at times, Tsukishima isn't actually bored enough to count all of them). Akiteru tried to count them once, when they were little and it was a hot day during the summer, too hot to do anything but lie on the hardwood floor.

"There's so many of them," his brother hums as his fingers lightly touch different spots on Tsukishima's back, whispering the numbers aloud to himself. "You have… thirty-one on your back. I think."

"You think?" Tsukishima scoffs. He takes off his glasses to wipe the sweat off the bridge of his nose, only to feel his glasses slipping as soon as he puts them back on. _Disgusting._

"I lost track around nineteen," Akiteru admits sheepishly and Tsukishima scowls, pressing his face against the floor. It's hot now, he needs to move to a new spot before it unbearably gross again.

"I want ice cream," he complains, shifting to the right just enough so that he's lying on a slightly cooler section of the hardwood floor. He pushes his bangs out of the way of his glasses, they’re sweaty and gross."Or strawberry mochi, just something cold."

"Well the refrigerator isn't working, so unless you want ice cream soup then you can go get some for yourself," Akiteru tells him as he rolls out of the patch of sunlight as well.

"Pathetic," Tsukishima whispers underneath his breath, pressing his cheek to the hardwood floor once more. It's turned hot and sticky once more, most likely a result of the sweat spreading from where Tsukishima was resting a few minutes earlier.

Akiteru says nothing, cheerfully moving back to count the stars upon his back.

 

 

Sometimes, Tsukishima thinks that the number of stars on his body are slowly increasing.

On his fifth birthday, as he's pulling on his shirt, he notices a small, blurry dot underneath his arm. He lifts it up to inspect, pinching at the skin that joins his armpit and underarm. Tsukishima reaches for his glasses, and the dot focuses into a tiny star, similar to the rest on his body. He squints at the new addition.

"Oh, that's normal," Akiteru dismisses later that night when they're both outside, hitting a volleyball back and forth. "As you grow older, sometimes the colors on your tattoos become dark, you see?" 

He tugs down the collar of his shirt, and Tsukishima can see how much more vibrant the colors of his brother's tattoo have become compared to when he last saw them. (They’re still kind of dull and faded though, but brighter than both of his parents’). 

"So what does it mean?" he asks as he hits the ball back towards Akiteru.

"Well, I suppose in your case the more stars you get, the less time you have until you meet your soulmate," Akiteru says as he receives the ball, bumping it with his forearms.

"Hm," Tsukishima hums as he jumps up to hit the ball. It soars back towards Akiteru and he looks down at his wrists and the small stars that dot them.

Akiteru walks over to him, sits down on the ground, and Tsukishima plops down next to him. "That means you're going to meet them soon," Akiteru grins as he ruffles his hair, moving Tsukishima's head back and forth.

"Don't do that," Tsukishima scowls, crossing his arms. Yet he’s unable to suppress the small grin that starts to spread across his face. "It's annoying."

"Look, my little brother is growing up," Akiteru laughs at the indignant expression on his face, "You're probably going to find your soulmate before me. It's fitting though, that your tattoos are stars because of your name, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah," Tsukishima grumbles, feeling his cheeks heat up slightly, "I get it already."

Akiteru musses his hair again and Tsukishima bats him away before pulling him up off the steps to play another game of volleyball before bed. 

 

 

He first meets Yamaguchi Tadashi at the beginning of the year during elementary school.

It's a rather uneventful day, and Tsukishima has nothing else to do but walk around the playground (the other kids don't exactly like playing with him too much, but he doesn't care because he doesn't like most of them either and he has Akiteru to play volleyball with at home anyway).

There's a small boy on the playground, face dotted with freckles the same way Tsukishima's body is dotted with stars, and he's crying. He's rubbing at his eyes, red and puffy and swollen, looking around nervously but no one seems to notice. There are three other boys surrounding him, one holding a stick, and Tsukishima frowns.

"What are you looking at?" one of the boys demands loudly, holding up his fist and shaking it at him.

The words pop out automatically. "Pathetic," Tsukishima scoffs, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he pauses in front of them.

That gets a reaction out of all of them. One of the bullies' face starts turning red, sort of like a strawberry except a thousand times less appealing. The one wearing the ugly striped shirt looks as though he's about to cry as well.

Tsukishima shrugs, smirking to himself as he walks somewhere else on the playground.

 

 

He doesn't notice the changes until he gets home later that night. It's Akiteru who points it out to him first.

"Your tattoos are different," he informs him casually, placing a small bowl of strawberries in front of Tsukishima.

"Huh?" Tsukishima asks, licking his lips unconsciously. He rolls up his sleeves and sure enough, his tattoos are different.

The first thing he notices is the color. He tilts his forearm to the right, inspecting the stars scattered along his vein. They used to be a pure, inky black, almost like an actual tattoo. Now, some of them have taken on a shimmery, almost glittery color.

Tsukishima tilts his forearm to the left, and some of the stars shift color. They're now a pale, silvery blue and he blinks in amazement. He tilts his forearm back to the right, and some of the stars turn pale red while others turn back into the old, inky black they used to be.

Eagerly, Tsukishima rolls up one of his pants leg and peels off his socks. He sticks out his tongue and wiggles his toes, angling his leg in different ways to see the way the stars change. He tunes out Akiteru's laughter, poorly muffled behind his wrist.

The next thing he focuses on is the lines.

After his fascination with the changing colors wears off, he notices the small, thin black lines connected some of the stars on his skin like the connect-the-dot drawings they sometimes do in school. The lines don't change color, no matter how much Tsukishima twists and turns and wiggles his toes (Akiteru's laughter is filling the room by this point, bouncing off the walls and reverberating).

Neither do the lines connect all of the stars, he finds as he lifts up his right leg to inspect the small clump underneath his kneecap. he scowls to himself, putting his leg back down as he looks up at Akiteru.

"I did meet a few new people today," he admits, reaching for a fruit. He speaks around a mouthful of strawberry, saying, "There were a couple of boys, three of them were bullying this one kid."

"Do you know which kid it was?" Akiteru asks, reaching into the bowl for a strawberry himself.

"No," Tsukishima says sheepishly as he pushes his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "I think it was that crying kid though, the one with the hair that won’t stick down."

Akiteru says nothing, instead opting for popping another strawberry into his mouth instead. "That constellation on your knee, I recognize it," he notes, tapping his cheek thoughtfully. “I think it’s one of those zodiac constellations or something, I’m not too sure.” 

Tsukishima looks at his left knee. Sure enough, the stars are connected in some sort of pattern and he traces over them slowly with his finger. "Really?"

"We're going to celebrate tonight," Akiteru grins at him as he reaches for another strawberry. Tsukishima bats his hand away, because the number of strawberries in the bowl has been dwindling steadily and it's not because of him. "I can't believe my little brother met his soulmate before I met mine," Akiteru says, and the pride and fondness in his voice makes Tsukishima chest fill with warmth.

 

 

Tsukishima first sees Yamaguchi's soulmate tattoos during a sleepover in middle school, when they're both twelve and at Yamaguchi's house. They're both changing into their pajamas, and Yamaguchi is looking for his pajama shirt when Tsukishima spots the marks on his skin (he's already clad in his dinosaur pajama pants).

"Is that it?" he asks, pointing to the small symbol located near Yamaguchi's rib cage. It's black, the same inky black of the night sky and Tsukishima's stars.

"What?" Yamaguchi asks, turning up to look quizzically at Tsukishima. He spots his shirt, grabbing it and begins to put one of his arms through the sleeve.

"That weird symbol thing," Tsukishima says as he plops onto Yamaguchi's bed. "It's supposed to be one of those astrological things just like the one on my knee, right?"

"Yeah," his friend responds, putting his other arm through the sleeve and pulling on his pajama shirt. He moves to sit next to Tsukishima and the bed bounces. "It's supposed to be the sign of the asteroid Vesta, or something like that," he explains. "I think it's really plain and boring though, it's nothing that special. It doesn’t even change colors, like yours"

Tsukishima says nothing. (He doesn't think it's plain in the slightest).

"I also have one of the asteroid itself, it formed a little bit before I met you," Yamaguchi adds a moment later, like an afterthought.

"Can I see it?" Tsukishima inquires, tilting his head to the side.

Yamaguchi flushes immediately. "No, you can't," he tugs down on his pajama shirt, even though Tsukishima was never going to reach for it in the first place. "I don't like it, it's really ugly and embarrassing." Yamaguchi's face is a slight red, making the freckles on his cheek stand out even more than usual.

"Pathetic," Tsukishima mumbles underneath his breath, "Being ashamed of something others wait their entire lives for." Yamaguchi turns a slightly darker shade of red. "I let you look at all my constellations that one time," he argues as he crosses his arms across his chest, "So can't I look at your asteroid tattoo?"

"Fine, you can see it," Yamaguchi relents, voice slightly high. "But only for a few seconds," he adds afterwards, in what Tsukishima supposes is meant to be a firm voice.

He rolls his eyes, and Yamaguchi takes off his pajama shirt, turning around so his back is facing Tsukishima. On his shoulder blade is a tattoo of an asteroid. Tsukishima can see the lumps and grooves on Yamaguchi's shoulder, and he resists the urge to touch them.

“I think it’s nice," he says, pulling his hand back and looking in the opposite direction. Yamaguchi practically beams.

 

 

Soulmate tattoos are always a big topic, no matter the time or place. In elementary school, Tsukishima watched other kids rolls up their sleeves or lift up their shirts, proudly showing their tattoos to one another. They were mostly dull colors, a basic black ink with dull, washed out colors.

In middle school, things were no different. Tsukishima would tune out the incessant chatter about soulmates from his classmates, pulling a chair next to his desk during lunch so Yamaguchi could sit next to him. (Sometimes he'd tune out Yamaguchi when he started to ramble in favor of listening to music, though most of the time he listened to his best friend talk).

Tsukishima always deflected questions about his tattoos, whenever someone had the guts to ask him. It was irritating, and completely unnecessary in his opinion. There was nothing to be gained from such conversations, and it was nothing more than an opportunity for those whose tattoos were more vibrant to show off anyway.

The one time he did roll up his sleeves, the other kids poked at his arms incessantly, turning it every which way. He doesn’t like being manhandled like that; it’s exceedingly uncomfortable and he finds it a bit more than invasive as well. 

Besides, he kind of likes the way the shock settles on his classmates' faces as they discover Yamaguchi has already has found his soulmate, and he likes the delighted, confident (it's a good look on him) expression on Yamaguchi's face when he glances back in delight at him even more.

His classmates at Karasuno are no exception.

There's Hinata, excessively loud and a tad bit obnoxious at times, and Kageyama, equally loud and stuck up as well, their ostentatiously vibrant tattoos reflecting their equally flamboyant personalities.

Whenever they're in the locker room, Hinata's tattoos are for everyone to see. There's a large one on his chest, a huge explosion of iridescent colors that it hurts Tsukishima's eyes whenever he looks at it. (There's an equally bright tattoo on Kageyama's rib cage to match Hinata's and Tsukishima wonders how that went down).

Hinata's other, equally obnoxious tattoo is on his left leg, spiraling up from his ankle to his knee. It flashes during practice, whenever he jumps to hit a spike, and Tsukishima has to rolls his eyes because of course Hinata is the exception with two soulmates.

The upperclassmen bother him about it nearly everyday, and Tsukishima has to work to keep the scowl off his face (he doesn't actually try that hard).

"So, who's your soulmate?" Tanaka asks, jabbing at one of the stars on Tsukishima's chest.

Tsukishima frowns, tugging his volleyball uniform down. "Please don't touch me there," he says dryly, looking over at Yamaguchi, who looks as though he's trying to suppress a small laugh, "In fact, please don't touch me at all."

"Oh, come on," Tanaka laughs boisterously as he slaps Tsukishima's back. "You can tell your senpais, can't you?"

"Yeah, come on, tell us," Nishinoya joins in, slapping Tsukishima on the back as well. Tsukishima is startled by how much force is put in, and Yamaguchi is biting down on his lower lip, definitely trying to suppress a laugh. “I’ll show you my tattoos if you tell me!” The libero says proudly, slapping his chest with a grin.

“No,” Tsukishima states simply, reaching for his water bottle. He scrunches his face at the thought of that (Nishinoya has a tendency to flaunt his tattoos for everyone as well, much to Asahi's eternal embarrassment and Tanaka's joy).

"How about Tanaka shows you his too?" the smaller boy offers and Tsukishima's face scrunches up even further. His eyes dart towards Yamaguchi, and yeah, he's definitely laughing now.

"No thanks, that's not something I would want to see," he deadpans before he opens his water bottle with his teeth and takes a small sip.

"Aw, come on," Tanaka whines as he hits him again, the sound of the slap reverberating throughout the entire gym. Suga and Daichi pause in the middle of their conversation to look at him and Tsukishima wonders how he ever ended up with his current teammates.

"You're not being any fun," Hinata joins in and Tsukishima wants nothing more than to leave right now. "Your tattoo isn't anything to be ashamed of, you know!" he practically yells as he lifts his shirt, showcasing the large and colorful tattoo on his chest.

Kageyama hastily pulls Hinata's shirt back down, before hitting him on the back of his head. "Don't lift your shirt up like that in public," he scolds.

"What?" Hinata asks. "Are you ashamed of our tattoos?" he demands.

"Of course not!" Kageyama retorts, face turning a light shade of red.

"Just like a real married couple," Tsukishima jeers, leaning towards Yamaguchi but whispering it loudly enough so that the other two first years can hear. This sends Yamaguchi into another small fit of laughter, which he attempts to cover up once more (not soon enough, Tsukishima can see the way his lips peel back).

Kageyama and Hinata turn around towards them, flushing immediately, and Tsukishima smirks at them as he leans back on his palms.

 

 

"Hey, you aren't ashamed, right?" Yamaguchi asks him when they're walking back home.

"Of what?" Tsukishima asks only somewhat irascibly (Suga was the one who somehow managed to coerce him into revealing that he and Yamaguchi were soulmates. The third year setter is a lot trickier than he looks).

"Our tattoos," Yamaguchi replies, dragging his feet on the ground. His sneakers kick up dust and Yamaguchi scrunches his face. "Are you ashamed of them? You didn't seem like you wanted anyone else to see them."

"I wasn't, okay?" Tsukishima scowls as he looks down at his shoes as well. He wonders irritably why Yamaguchi is even asking such a dumb question. "Since when have I ever been ashamed?" he asks almost tiredly.

"You kind of seemed hesitant today, to tell everyone else I was your soulmate too," Yamaguchi continues, scratching the side of his head.

"Look," Tsukishima stops in the middle of the sidewalk, Yamaguchi nearly bumping into him. "I'm not ashamed of anything, I just don't see what the big deal is about showing off your tattoos, it's just kind of annoying," he explains. 

_Also I don't want someone like Tanaka to poke at all my stars over my entire body_ , he adds silently. (In fact he doesn’t want anyone other than Yamaguchi counting them, and maybe Akiteru, Tsukishima isn’t too sure where he and his brother still stand). 

Tsukishima looks at Yamaguchi, and for once his expression is unreadable. "Ah okay, I get it," Yamaguchi says after a moment's pause, eyes turning upwards into small crescents (but for some reason this time it feels weird). "Sorry, Tsukki," he tells him with a sheepish laugh and Tsukishima scowls as they resume walking back home.

 

 

Things between them change a bit after that. They change in a way Tsukishima can't quite figure out, and for once he's unsure of his friendship with Yamaguchi.

They've always been friends, since as far back as Tsukishima can remember. It was something that was comfortable and easy, and Tsukishima likes things that are comfortable and easy. Only now it feels like they're both treading on _something_ and he doesn't know what that something is.

Most soulmates are involved romantically, but that's also because most soulmates don't meet in elementary school. Tsukishima stares up at his ceiling, listening to music as he mulls over that in bed.

Yamaguchi has started learning his how to do a jump float serve. He plays off his lessons as a small trip to the supermarket sometimes, but Tsukishima says nothing. Lately he's been practicing much more frequently, and for much longer, and Tsukishima thinks that the recent match against Seijou might have something to do with it.

With Yamaguchi practicing almost every night now, Tsukishima has nothing better to do than to lie in bed and stare at his ceiling. Jurassic Park reruns aren't nearly as fun without someone else to watch them with him.

He wonders if maybe that's what Yamaguchi wants, to be something more than friends. Then, he wonders if that's what he wants as well. Tsukishima frowns at that thought, struggling to come up with an answer.

These kinds of things are too complicated.

 

 

Before, up until their first year of high school, Yamaguchi used to count the number of stars on Tsukishima's hands. 

He would count them while they did homework, index finger poking at each individual star. He'd count them on the bus to practice matches, when there was nothing else to do but he couldn't fall asleep. Occasionally, Yamaguchi would count them during lunch as well.

Tsukishima always let him. Yamaguchi is one of the few people (probably the only now, since his relationship with Akiteru has been rapidly deteriorating lately) that he lets count his stars. It's just that he feels oddly uncomfortable with anyone else doing so, since nearly everyone's first reaction is to count how many he has. 

The habit persisted since middle school, maybe even earlier, with Tsukishima laying his arms on the table as Yamaguchi slowly mouthed numbers underneath his breath. Sometimes his fingers would trace the constellations as well, but not anymore. 

Something feels off when they do homework together now. Tsukishima is reaching for something in his backpack when their elbows bump, and it's like a small electric shock to him. Yamaguchi quickly apologizes, hastily withdrawing his arm as well. 

He figures it out on one of the rare days they don't have volleyball practice in the afternoon. 

They're both walking back home, having just passed a small convenience store. Wordlessly, Tsukishima hands a slice of cake they just bought from the store to Yamaguchi. It's the one with extra cream. 

"Do you want to watch a movie today, maybe?" he asks as he takes out a slice for himself as well. "Since we don't have practice we have more time." 

"Ah, sorry Tsukki," Yamaguchi tells him as he takes a bite from the slice of cake. "I can't. I actually have to go do something else right now, maybe on the weekend?" 

"Okay," Tsukishima says as he watches Yamaguchi turn walk down the street, waving to him and leaving him all alone. 

He knows that the younger boy is going to practice his jump float serve again. He realizes he misses Yamaguchi, misses the way they used to do homework almost every night together and misses hearing his laughter and his snide comments all the time. (He makes a lot more than others think he does). Tsukishima frowns at that, still standing by himself in the street with a small piece of cake in one hand and a plastic bag in the other. 

They used to walk side by side, but now Yamaguchi is changing and running far ahead of him. Tsukishima wonders how he missed that fact. 

 

 

The weird change persists till summer training camp, even after Yamaguchi finally knocks some sense into him in regards to volleyball.

It's still unnoticeable to the others, but Tsukishima attributes that to the fact that most of his teammates tend to be extremely dense.

He still doesn't know what to do about it any more than he did a few months ago, and he's still nowhere close to figuring out what exactly he feels for Yamaguchi..

"Stars, huh?" The Nekoma captain asks him, a small smirk on his face, sliding down next to Tsukishima as he wipes his sweat with the bottom of his shirt.

"What?" Tsukishima asks, hastily tugging down his shirt. It doesn't help in the slightest, mainly because Tsukishima has that one constellation on his neck and stars glittered all over his arms. "Is there anything wrong with that?" he asks sharply.

"No, no," Kuroo says, and he still has a small grin on his face and Tsukishima still isn't entirely sure how to feel about Nekoma's captain. "Just that it kind of matches with that other kid you guys have," he gestures to the spots underneath his face.

"Really?" Tsukishima states dryly, eyes following the volleyball that Bokuto slams down. "Huh." He's never really thought about Yamaguchi's freckles that way.

"Who do you think has more?" Bokuto inquires eagerly, throwing the volleyball back in the basket to join them. He scrambles up to Kuroo, sliding right across from them as he shakes off his sweat.

"Probably glasses over here," Kuroo replies with a lofty grin on his face, reaching over to pat Tsukishima on the head. Tsukishima ducks, and Kuroo's hand swipes at air instead. "Sorry," Kuroo says, voice strangely sincere.

"You guys are soulmates though, right?" Bokuto asks, eyes widening as he tilts his head to the side, and Tsukishima can feel his eyes boring through him. He shifts uncomfortably; he doesn't understand everyone else's constant fascination with soulmates.

"Yeah," he answers curtly, tugging down on his shirts sleeves, as if covering up some of the stars on his body would stop the conversation. "Why does it matter?"

"Ah, you're lucky," Kuroo says, eyes shifting their gaze from him and he looks as though he’s contemplating something. .

"Why?" he asks, not quite fidgeting but not quite sitting still, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Just because someone else is your soulmate, doesn't mean that you're theirs," Kuroo tells him, tugging down the collar of his shirt.

Tsukishima can see the beginning of a tattoo, the colors completely dull and faded out like old paint on an abandoned building. Half the tattoo isn't even complete, the lines ending abruptly. It's all jagged, and looks rougher and more ragged than any soulmate tattoo he's seen.

"Sorry," Tsukishima says, unsure of what else to say.

Kuroo shrugs his shoulder nonchalantly, grinning at him instead. "It's nothing to be sorry about, it's the kind of thing that happens, you know," he dismisses just a tad too casually.

In a way, Tsukishima supposes he is lucky. Many other people spend most of their life waiting for their tattoos to finally settle, for their full colors. They wait their entire lives for the right person, while Tsukishima has had that person by his side all along.

"But also, just because you guys aren't soulmates doesn't mean you can't be in a relationship too," Kuroo tells him and Bokuto nods enthusiastically in affirmation.

"I guess I am kind of lucky then," Tsukishima says, and it’s more to himself than to Kuroo and Bokuto.

"You should see _my_ tattoos," Bokuto says, eagerly lifting up his shirt before Tsukishima can object and turning around to display his back. It's a bright splash of colors, bright neons mixing with deeper, darker colors like his tattoos couldn't decide on one color scheme.

He thinks Bokuto's tattoos are fittingly flamboyant, just like Hinata's. But Tsukishima doesn't like loud, obnoxious things.

 

 

They're both sitting next to one another in Tsukishima's backyard. It's a hot summer night, sometime after their training camp in Tokyo. The air feels somewhat cloying and Tsukishima's shirt is sticking to him, despite the fact that he hasn't moved in over an hour.

"You've been acting kind of weirdly lately," he tells Yamaguchi, turning back to look up at the night sky. The stars blink back lazily at him as well. (Yamaguchi used to always make some sort of comparison between his tattoos and the stars, but he doesn’t anymore, not since then).

"Sorry, Tsukki," comes Yamaguchi's automatic reply as he looks down at his hands. "A lot of things have been on my mind lately and I've just been thinking..."

"Thinking about what?" Tsukishima asks, peeling his eyes off the sky. (Even though Tsukishima has the entire night sky on his body, stars never cease to fascinate him a little).

"Stuff," Yamaguchi replies vaguely. He combs his hair back with his hand. Tsukishima notes the small hairs at the nape of Yamaguchi's neck. His hair has been getting longer recently, though not quite at the length where he can tie it up.

Tsukishima frowns at Yamaguchi's answer. He remembers the training camp, and for once carefully selects his words before speaking hesitantly, "You know you can tell me stuff if you want too. We are friends, after all."

"I know that," Yamaguchi says as he scrunches up his nose. He takes a deep breath before turning to look Tsukishima in the eye. "Do you really hate the idea of us being soulmates so much?" he asks.

"What?" Tsukishima stutters, somewhat taken off guard. "No, of course not," he defends hotly. In fact, it's the complete opposite. Tsukishima doesn't think he could imagine being someone else's soulmate other than Yamaguchi, because anyone else would feel wrong.

"It just kind of hurts, you know," Yamaguchi tells him and there are small tears prickling at the corners of his eyes. Yamaguchi is clenching his fists and gritting his teeth, back to looking down at the concrete steps they're sitting on.

Tsukishima is struggling for words. Yamaguchi has always cried a bit more easily than others, but Tsukishima has rarely been the cause. "Sorry, Yamaguchi," he apologizes, unsure of how to convey his sincerity.

"It's alright, it's not really your fault," the younger boy tells him. "It just hurts when the person you like always seems so reluctant to show the only physical thing that ties us together. And to admit that we're soulmates too, even though we've been friends since forever."

He blinks at Yamaguchi, unsure if he heard whether he actually just heard those words come out of his friend's mouth. "You like me?" he asks, pointing to himself, even though there's no one else around that Yamaguchi could possibly be referring too.

"What?" Yamaguchi stutters, eyes widening in horror. "Oh my god, please pretend I never said that, I never meant to say that. And I didn't mean to say that you liked me anything more than a friend, Tsukki." He's floundering, words stammering out of his mouth, the blush on his cheek contrasting with his freckles.

"I never said that," Tsukishima mumbles somewhat shyly and Yamaguchi's head snaps up. He blinks at Tsukishima in disbelief. "You never let me finish my sentence," Tsukishima shrugs.

He doesn't expect the punch from Yamaguchi at all.

"Ow," he mutters underneath his breath, rubbing his shoulder. Yamaguchi is biting his bottom lip once more, trying to prevent a smile from forming. "I just don't really like it when other people besides you count my stars," Tsukishima admits.

"I get it," Yamaguchi tells him, "You don't have to show people your stars if you don't want to. Sorry Tsukki, for not getting it sooner."

He supposes this is what it means to have a soulmate. To have someone who's comfortable to be around, whom he likes. someone who understands him and he understands as well (and even if they don't all the time, that's okay because everyone has bumps in their relationships).

"It's okay," Tsukishima replies. "And I don't mind if it's you," he mutters under his breath. (He’s only ever let Yamaguchi call him Tsukki, and he’s only ever let him count his stars. Yamaguchi Tadashi has always been the exception in Tsukishima’s life). 

Yamaguchi reaches for his hand and Tsukishima's face suddenly feels extremely hot, and he coughs slightly. This time, Yamaguchi is unable to suppress his smile.

 

 

"One hundred and thirty-eight," Yamaguchi tells him brightly one day, while they're walking to school in the morning. 

“What?” Tsukishima asks, pulling down his headphones. “One hundred and thirty-eight what?” he asks. Their hands brush against one another, and Tsukishima leans over as subtly as he can to reach for Yamaguchi’s hand. 

“One hundred and thirty-eight stars,” Yamaguchi replies as he grins, squeezing Tsukishima’s hand. “You have one hundred and thirty-eight stars on your arms,” he informs him chirpily. 

“You actually counted?” Tsukishima scoffs, even as he feels a small flush slowly creeping up the back of his neck. 

“Yeah, of course I did,” Yamaguchi smiles widely at him. “There’s seventy-nine on your back too, a Scorpio constellation on your knee, but I don’t know about the rest,” Yamaguchi flushes red as he stammers out the last few words. 

Tsukishima scowls, but with no real menace behind it. “I can’t believe you actually counted all of them,” he says, and now he knows the flush has reached his cheeks as well. 

They walk like that to school, together with their hands in one another’s, side by side once more.

**Author's Note:**

> happy birthday again rebecca uwu. the fact that i'm saying this twice is bc i hope you have a super super wonderful birthday
> 
> \+ thank you again to [tanakry](http://tanakry.tumblr.com) for helping me by betaing this again (ao3 hates me and i cant type hearts bc of the weird html formatting)  
> \+ and actually this was supposed to be a second installment in a kuroken soulmate au only... i haven't actually written that yet which is why this is first so um... yeah
> 
> (happy birthday again rebecca ily so much you have no idea how much you mean to me)


End file.
